Notion: Myths and heroes
I am going to talk about the notion of «Myths and heroes». To illustrate the notion, I’ve chosen to talk about the Royal family of Britain because they embody the power for the British people. They represent models and they are often seen as exceptional persons and leaders. In this way they appear to be heroes.
Is the myth surrounding the royal family a fair presentation of what the royal members really are?
To begin with, I am going to give some quick information about Britain. Then, I will talk about these kings and queens that seem to have satisfied the expectation of the British people. Finally, I will show that queens and kings can be sometimes as weak as ordinary people.

Britain is a vast state in Europe known for its political system. Indeed, it is a constitutional monarchy. That means that the power of the monarch (the king or queen) is restrained by a parliament, by law, or by custom. The royal family is an essential component of the British culture: kings and queens are emblematic figures. They have been for centuries (and still are) an inspiration for many people.

Among the men and women that have ruled the state, we can cite Elizabeth I, who appears as a strong queen ready to stand up for her people as we can see in the poster of the movie “ Elizabeth: The golden age”. In the short extract of the movie, she is represented as a perfect queen: she looks undeniably powerful setting on her throne. When she refused “the fruit of piracy” she proved that she was a fair queen. And then, when she finally accepted the gifts, she shows how smart she is (knowing that the king of Spain is no friend of England). In addition to that, she has a great sense a humour: she makes jokes about her possible future marriage and she plays on the words Virginia and Conjugia. She also looks caring and refined when she welcomed the natives in her kingdom. Another royal family member who seems to have perfectly embodied the image of what a perfect monarch should be is princess Diana: she captured the hearts and minds of people in Britain and around the world.

However, some monarchs might have been the totaly opposite of what we are expecting from a ruler. Reading the brief description of the movie “The King’s speech” we discover King George VI (the father of present-day queen) as a king stammering and afraid of speaking in public. King Georges even had a speech therapist to help him to overcome his stammer. In the still from the movie “The Queen”, Elizabeth II looks like any other old lady reading the news in her sitting room. She does not look like the most important person of the realm: she looks ordinary. About Henry VIII, he seemed to be a horrible king/person: we learnt that he had 6 wives, two of whom he divorced, and two of whom he had beheaded.

Nowadays, even if the majority of British people feel there should still be a royal family, the British questioned the need of their existence as the royal children have disappointed the expectations (of the British) with a number of scandals and divorces.

As a conclusion, we can say that the myth surrounding the Royals has not always been a fair presentation of what they really are. Indeed, even if some of them seemed to correspond perfectly to the expectations of the British, others can be really disappointing. I think queens and kings are only humans; they cannot be as perfect and strong as we want them to be.